Head Games: The power of the whiteboard

You walk into the gym, you put your stuff away, and you look at the whiteboard. You go over the movements in your head, formulating questions. How heavy should I go? Is there a rest built in after the rounds? What the difference between a Clean and a Snatch again?

After you’ve obssessed over your own impending experience with the workout, do you notice the times and numbers of those who did the workout earlier in the day? Do you just scan the list to see who lifted the most, and who went the fastest and leave it at that? Do you look and say “Wow, Shamus lifted 3,000 pounds today”, or “Nick got one billion rounds in that metcon”, and then just walk away? Or do you use the number of other members to push yourself harder?

The power of the whiteboard is this - It provides instant standards by which you can measure your own performance in the gym. By now, many of you know roughly how much you can lift. My suggestion is that you choose someone in the gym who can lift about the same, or a little more than you can do. Keep an eye on that person - take note of their scores and weights on the whiteboard, and CHASE THEM.

Better yet, take it one step further and perform BETTER than they did.

Use the whiteboard as a source of motivation to push yourself harder than you could on your own. Use the weights of those who worked out earlier in the day as a way to set, and exceed your goals for the day.

And to the athletes in the 6:30am class – look at the blank white board as a chance to amaze the night time members. Go heavy and go hard, knowing that 20 more people will be staring at your numbers, trying to beat them. Think about the next morning when you walk into the gym. Wouldn’t it be nice to set the bar so high that no on else reaches it? Also, know that your scores help the entire gym get fitter. Your achievements help enhance the caliber of all of our athletes.

It’s no coincidence that Jay’s lifts usually come within 5 pounds of Dave’s, or that mine come within 5 pounds of Beth or Jill’son certain lifts. We use the accomplishments of others to help push ourselves harder and give ourselves tangible goals for the day.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Now that you’re all pumped up to set PRs and crush some metcons, remember to pay attention to the numbers of someone who is VERY close to your own strength or metcon numbers and DON’T BE STUPID when lifting. Don’t choose the heaviest weight on the board and try to beat it, if your previous numbers weren’t even close. We want you to be monster athletes, not broken crazy people.

Jay – you’re the perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Jill – I lifted 190 for 5 on Sunday because you and Beth did 185. I wasn’t even going to try for 180! I’m much closer to my 90-day goal of pulling 200, thanks to you guys! Keep working hard so I have something to chase. Nilda is gonna be my next target. She is crazy strong.

Unfortunately I go to the 6:30 class, so I can’t see what anyone else did on a workout before we do it. But I do make sure I analyze the previous days’ results. Sometimes it bugs me if I am not going to be there for a day because I won’t get to see everyone elses results.

I don’t look at the white board so much as try to keep up with people like Steve and Dave in the 6:30 class met-con. If I can finish within 30 to 45 seconds of them, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. There’s no way I’m competing with them on weight though.